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Leading airlines have hit back against duty on tickets by producing new figures quantifying the economic “destruction” caused by taxing passengers.

A coalition including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, easyJet and Ryanair published a study by PwC yesterday suggesting that abolishing air passenger duty would create 60,000 jobs and would boost GDP by 0.46 per cent.

However, the numbers got a frosty response from the Treasury, which made clear that the Chancellor had no intention of lowering APD. Consumer groups, meanwhile, pointed out that carriers often benefited by pocketing tax paid on cancelled bookings.